Device for preventing underground freezing



Aug, W, 194. R. J. NEUTRA DEVICE FOR PREVENTING UNDERGROUND FREEZINGOriginal Filed Jan. 4, 1945 ii A TTURNEY Patented Aug. 10, 1948 DEVICEFOR PREVENTING UNDERGROUND FREEZING Richard J. Neutra, Los Angeles,Calif. Original application January 4, 1943,'Serial No.

471,307. Divided and this application ber 18, 1944, Serial No. 554,706

Septem- 3 Claims. (Cl.'189-42 This invention relates tocolumn-supporting members used in the construction of buildings, andmore especially to means to prevent the freezing of the soil in theimmediate vicinity of such column-supporting members in cold weather soas to prevent undesirable up-and-down movement of such membersoccasioned by alternate freezing and thawing of the moisture containedin the soil.

More especially, it is an object of my invention to provide aninsulating cover capable of being assembled in enclosing relation aboutthe foot of the column and the column-supporting member so as to make atight seal with the ground at its lower end and a similar tight sealwith the column at its upper end, thereby eifectively preventing theentry of cold atmospheric air into the cover.

One mode of execution is shown in Fig. 1 in a top view and in Fig. 2 inelevation. Fig. 3 shows a detail in a perspective representation.

The column I is supported by a foundation member consisting of a shoe 2carrying the bottom end of the column, of a system of braces 3, thelower ends of which are articulated to the shoe 2, of a base plate 4which is placed upon the ground and to which the upper ends of thebraces 3 are articulated and of a fixing device 5 engaging the column Iabove the shoe 2 and being supported by a system of props 6 fixed to thebaseplate 4. By such a foundation the column I is supported by the shoe2 and held in an upright position by the fixing device 5.

The surface of a portion of the soil surrounding the baseplate 4 and theair immediately above it is enclosed by a cover 1 which may be of anessentially conical or more generally, of a belllike shape and consistsof a plurality, for example, two parts which are brought into tightcontact at the joints '8, 9 which bisect the cover along adiameterthereof. This cover I must have insulating qualities and therefore itconsists-according to the mode of execution in questionof a metallicbody 16, or shell, e. g. of sheet metal, and a layer 11, of aninsulating material, e. g. diatomaceous earth, compositions ofinsulating material, etc. The lower rim of the cover 7 is shaped as acylinder l 0, which can be depressed into the earth to a sufiicientdegree to create a tight seal between the earth and the cover, thusintercepting the flow or immediate contact between the exterior and theinterior air.

On the top of the cone-shaped part of the cover I is attached a tubularpart H which surrounds a hole on the top of the cover and the column,

penetrating this hole and this tubular part II leaves between itself andthe column a space for sealing means, for example, a packing of textilematerial, which may be compressed by a ring l2 pressed downward byscrews l3. Thus this tubular part I l with the sealing material and thering l2 form a kind of stulfing box sealing the opening where the columnemerges from the cover I.

The joints 8 and 9 between the two parts of the cover I have, of course,to be tightly sealed too. and this can be accomplished, for example, byproviding outward directed flanges I4 at the edges to be jointed (seeFig, 3) and by inserting a sealing material l5 between these flanges.

Thus the enclosure of the space inside the cover is tightly sealedagainst the open air and, as the cover has insulating qualities, the airand the surface of the soil within the cover will not be cooled by theinfluence of the cool open air outside the cover. Therefore no air of anunsuitably low temperature can enter the soil under the cover andpenetrate down to the portion of the soil lying underneath the baseplate4. Moreover, the influence of the cold air on the surface whichsurrounds the cover I, can not cause freezing of the soil underneath thebaseplate 4 because the heat conductivity of the soil is very low andconsequently heat (or cold) exchange between the por tion of the soilunderneath the baseplate 4 and portions of the soil lying exteriorlythereof cannot occur. In this way freezing of the humidity contained inthe soil and the formation of ice underneath the baseplate 4 and as aresult any up and down movement of the surface of the soil underneaththe baseplate 4 can be completely avoided. Although the foundation ofthe column I is supported by the surface of the ground, the stability ofthis foundation is thus secured at any temperature.

I do not want to limit the scope of my invention to the mode ofexecution shown in the drawing. Obviously the shape of the cover and theway of providing it with insulating qualities, the means of producingtight sealings between the cover and the earth surface on the one handand the column on the other hand may be varied in different ways withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with an upright column having its lower end supportedin a column-supporting member, of a cover enclosing and preventing thefreezing of the soil adjacent the columnsupporting member, said covercomprising a sectional hollow metal shell laterally assembled about thecolumn-supporting member, a layer of heat-insulating material upon oneof the surfaces of the shell, an opening at the top of the shell forpassing the column, said shell being open at its bottom and the loweredge of the shell being penetrable into the soil to seal the lower endof the shell, a tubular member surrounding the opening and a packing ofcompressible material confined within the tubular member and closing thespace between the tubular member and the column.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 including a compressionmember mounted upon the tubular member and operable for compressing thepacking within the tubular member.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the upper portion ofthe shell is of conical shape and its lower portion is of cylindricalshape with flanges extending along the abutting edges of the shellsections and a compressible sealing material interposed between theflanges.

RICHARD J. NEUTRA.

4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name. Date 219,987 Scott Sept. 23, 1879254,662 Kinney Mar. 7, 1882 1,021,447 Carstens Mar. 26, 1912 1,207,039Hildreth et a1 Dec. 5, 1916 1,263,789 Morrison Apr. 23, 1918 1,732,690Marsteller Oct. 22, 1929 2,079,835 Bradley May 11, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 606,716 Germany Dec. 8, 1934 OTHER REFERENCES TheGarden Dictionary, published by Houghton Mifilin Co. Received in PatentOfl'ice, 1941. (Copy in Division 1, pages 344, 345.)

